Douglas Thomas (1) (1966–)

About a month ago, Dr. Cliff Harbour, Associate Professor at the University of Wyoming College of Education, recommended that I read Thomas and Brown's book, rel="nofollow" target="_top">A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change*. He knew I was constantly questioning the role of education and learning, and he thought this would be an interesting read for me. This book is one of many taking a hard look at education and learning, and finding they are not one in the same. Read more… (more)

This was a relatively short book with one simple theme; the process of learning is evolving and you can either fight it or take advantage.

The new culture of learning is based around the prevalence of information and potential learning resources. Students now learn more from the process of learning and the communities fostered than from the factual information that is fed to them. Students also learn best when they are able to follow their passions. In the words of the author, “Different people, when presented with exactly the same information in exactly the same way, will learn different things.”

The book included a great analogy of a raiding party in the World of Warcraft game to explain how, within an open community, individuals learn through trial and error and elements of play. In it’s most simple formula, community passion play= new learning culture.… (more)

If doing is learning, there's plenty to learn and do with the ideas Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown present in "A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change." Working with the theme of social/collaborative learning that we've also encountered in many other recent books and articles, Thomas and Brown take us through a stimulating and brief--but never cursory--exploration of "the kind of learning that will define the twenty-first century." And it won't, they tell us right up front, be "taking place in a classroom--at least not in today's classroom. Rather, it is happening all around us, everywhere, and it is powerful" (p. 17). What flows through much of Thomas and Brown's work--and what we observe in our own training-teaching-learning environments--is what they address explicitly near the end of their book after having discussed the importance of learning environments: the need to foster playfulness in learning and the parallel need to work toward a framework of learning that builds upon the Maker movement and that acknowledges three essential facets for survival in contemporary times: "They are homo sapiens, homo faber, and homo ludens--or humans who know, humans who make (things), and humans who play" (p. 90). All of which leads us to an obvious conclusion: if we are inspired to do the things within our communities, collectives, and organizations that Thomas and Brown describe and advocate, we will be engaged in building the new culture of learning they describe--while learning how to build it.… (more)